Remember back when Eddie Murphy was edgy? You know, back in his '80's heyday, when he wore that red leather suit and did imitations of Jackie Gleason and Barney Rubble that were so blue they would have made the paint peel off Mr. T's jewelry?

The bad news is that if you want to see that Eddie Murphy, you're going to have to rent his concert DVD "Delirious" (which, conveniently, was reissued earlier this month). "Imagine That," his latest in a string of tamer family-oriented movies, suggests the old Murphy has gone away and isn't coming back any time soon.

The good news, though, is that the kinder, gentler Murphy still knows how to push people's buttons.

Sure, most of the people whose buttons he's pushing are 3 feet tall and need to have their noses wiped, but it's something. Even with its ironic -- and, frankly, expected -- lack of imagination, however, "Imagine That" ends up being redeemed by a handful of wonderfully sweet moments.

Before those happen, though, the movie threatens to be thoroughly ordinary, particularly during its extended, and lifeless, setup. In it, Murphy plays a financial guru whose marriage has dissolved because he devotes too much time to work and not enough to his wife and 6-year-old daughter. Just as his career begins to slide, he discovers that his daughter's imaginary friends have a knack for predicting the stock market.

Eddie Murphy, left, and Yara Shahidi in 'Imagine That.'

IMAGINE THAT
2.5 stars, out of 4

Snapshot: A family-friendly comedy about a man who delves into his daughter's imaginary world to save his career -- and learns a lesson or two in the process.

What works: Amid the pablum are some genuinely sweet moments.

What doesn't: There's not a whole lot that's imaginative about it, from the plot to the humor.

As long as he plays along, dancing with her security blanket -- her "goo-gaa" -- to open the portal to her imaginary world, the stock tips will keep flowing and his career will continue its rebound.

Pint-sized audiences aren't likely to appreciate much of the boardroom talk of leveraged buyouts and margin calls, but they'll get the predictable humor: Murphy makes funny faces. Murphy sings in funny voices. Murphy performs silly dances. And the kids in the audience howl.

The best moments, however, are the scenes shared by Murphy and his young co-star, Yara Shahidi, a beautiful moppet who has a natural, believable delivery that is leagues ahead of the stilted style of so many child actors. When she and Murphy are on-screen, the playfulness feels real, and the sweetness palpable.

Shahidi and the other children of "Imagine That" are also responsible for the movie's biggest payoff. It's in the movie's third act -- as Murphy is realizing the importance of play and imagination, blah, blah, blah -- when a chorus of children take to an elementary-school stage to sing "All You Need is Love."

The effect is so beautiful, and so optimistically Beatles-esque, that it almost makes up for the string of lamentable Beatles covers featured earlier in the movie. (Allow me to offer a word of thanks here, on behalf of Beatles fans everywhere, to director Karey Kirkpatrick for not going with the more obvious -- but far less up-tempo -- John Lennon anthem "Imagine." Nice call.)

Twenty-five years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine that "Imagine That" would see Eddie Murphy and The Beatles coming together to create family entertainment, but I'll be darned if it doesn't work.